lucky with the questions
by icclenomi
Summary: sorry the title is rubbish suggestions heavily welcomed.  Doogie suspects Vinnie of cheating on a test and is immediatly given huge cause of concern


Yep, thats right. Doogie Howser M.D and its characters don't belong to me. they existed for like a whole year before I was even born. Vinnie _delivered a baby_ 12 days before I was born!

* * *

Doogie was lying down on his bed, reading a magazine when Vinnie Delpino decided to make his nightly appearance. No doubt, he would have his ear talked off about how horribly tough Vinnie's life was, either that or he'd want something out of Doogie; money, to borrow his car… 

"Doog, you gotta help me!" _What do you know?_ "Doog, we're having a test tomorrow. A test!"

"So, what's the problem?" He asked, well aware of the verbal berating he was about to receive.

"The problem is, Doog, that it's gonna be worth like a quarter of my grade! And they won't even tell us what it's gonna be about! All I know is that it's something to do with history! History, Doog! What do I know about history?"

"Gee. I don't know, Vin. Anyway, what do you want me to do about it?"

"I don't know! You're the genius; zap me with your brain or somethin'!" Doogie had to laugh. Zap him with his brain? Where did Vinnie get his ideas from anyway? Vinnie pushed Doogie and fell back onto the bed. "Hey, don't laugh at me. This is it. I'm ruined. I'm never gonna be able to go to film school. I might as well just die."

"Come on, Vinnie. You haven't even taken the test yet. Besides, don't you think you're being just a little overdramatic? Even if this test doesn't go well, you've still got the other parts of your class to fall back on." Vinnie just looked at Doogie like he'd grown an extra head.

"Are you kiddin' me?" Vinnie sat up. "You know what my brain is like with academics. I'm a-"

"I know, I know, 'I'm an artist, school is okay for academics like you, but for an artist it's like a prison preventing me from-" Vinnie threw one of Doogie's pillows at him and walked towards the door.

"Okay, Okay. I geddit. Thanks a lot, Howser. You've been a real help."

Doogie smiled as Vinnie climbed out of the window again. Man, Vinnie could be melodramatic. His smile only faltered when he remembered what Vinnie had almost done a few weeks before. True, he hadn't actually gone through with cheating, but the desire to do it was there, plus it had been for a homework assignment, giving him time to think about it, rather than continue with his immediate decision to cheat. Doogie shook his head. _I can't believe you're thinking that about your best friend!_ Doogie mentally slapped himself and sat down at his computer.

'December 5 1990...'

* * *

Vinnie sat in class chewing on his fingers. _Damn, that test was way too simple for it to be right. They would never have asked those questions if they were that easy for me to answer… Nuts. Why can't I have a brain like Doogie? All he has to do is look at a page of writing and he 'members it._

"Vinnie, come on. It was just a test." Came Janine's voice from his right. But he couldn't shake his feeling of dread as Dr. Jackson came into the room with the marked tests tucked under his arm. Vinnie buried his face in his hands as Wanda handed out the tests.

"Oh my God! Vinnie, it's okay. You got an A!"

"What?" Vinnie grabbed the paper from Wanda's outstretched arm. He couldn't contain his joy as his face broke out into a wide grin. "I got an A!!!"

* * *

"Doog!! Doog!!" Doogie poked his head out of the bathroom. 

"What is it, Vin?" he asked, wiping his mouth on a flannel.

"You'll never guess what." Vinnie grinned, lightly punching Doogie's arm.

"What?" Vinnie threw his arms out and proclaimed

"I got an A on the test!" Doogie was momentarily stunned.

"Vinnie, that's great."

"Yeah. I think I'm gonna have it framed and put up on my wall. Later, Doog!"

As Vinnie clambered out the window once more, Doogie's mind went crazy again. He couldn't stop the feeling that something was amiss.

* * *

Doogie's head kept telling him to forget about his suspicions. But even as Doogie was out shopping with Wanda, Janine and Vinnie, the other part of his head told him to confront Vinnie. The main problem was finding the opportune time. 

"Hey, Doog. Doog!" Vinnie waved his hand in front of Doogie's face. "You looked like you were stuck in the lingerie section."

"Har har." Doogie slapped the back of Vinnie's head.

"Hey, let's get some food." Janine suggested, before turning to Vinnie. "We can sit down and I can congratulate my boyfriend properly for being so smart." They kissed lightly as they walked along and Doogie bit his lip. Unfortunately, Vinnie saw.

"What?"

"'What?' what?"

"You got that 'I got something to say but don't wanna say it' look on your face. Out wit it." Doogie could feel three pairs of eyes drilling into him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He started walking again

"Oh come on, Howser. I known you for forever."

"No, it doesn't matter."

"Well, obviously it does." Doogie closed his eyes and stopped walking.

"How could you have gotten an A on that test?"

"Doogie!" Wanda exclaimed.

"You were in my room on Wednesday ranting to me about how little you knew about history."

"Well, I got lucky-"

"Right; lucky."

"Yeah, lucky. What are you saying? You think I cheated?"

"Well…"

"I don't believe this. I finally do good at something, really good and that means I must have cheated? Thanks a lot, Doog." Vinnie turned and walked away, his hand going up to wipe his face. Wanda and Janine glared at him as he stood there.

"Vin…" He ran after Vinnie. "Vinnie, I'm sorry. I just didn't get it." Vinnie kept on storming ahead, tears wet on his cheeks. "I mean you said you didn't know history. You…"

"The questions were practically all about the fifties. I got lucky with them. I knew the stuff already."

"Vinnie, I'm sorry. I just…" Doogie nearly ran into Vinnie as he abruptly turned.

"You just what, Howser?" But before Doogie could answer, Vinnie turned into the road, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"Vinnie!"

* * *

THE END 

oooh I'm mean huh?

eh, scroll down... sorry I dont know why I felt the need...

thats right folk it aint over, til its over!

* * *

Time seemed to slow down as they heard the sickening thud of metal on flesh. Where Wanda's hand flew to her mouth, Janine just ran. By the time the girls got to the side of the road, Doogie was already kneeling down next to Vinnie. 

"Vinnie? Vinnie, talk to me!" Doogie's hand went to Vinnie's neck where he thankfully felt a pulse. He forced himself to look at the damage that had been done. He saw immediately that the main concern was his head; there was blood seeping through the small Italian's dark hair. Not wanting to release his hold on Vinnie's body Doogie yelled into the crowd of gathering people, "I need a shirt, or a cloth or something!" When Wanda handed him her new shirt he pushed it onto the wound straight away.

"Wanda, could you keep pressure on his head wound while I check out his other injuries?" She nodded dumbly and knelt down, resting Vinnie's head on her knees she held onto the dampening cloth with shaky hands. "Has anyone dialed 911?"

Doogie's head was filled with so many thoughts it was difficult to keep them all at bay. His best friend was bleeding on a road. His best friend got hit by a car. His best friend didn't look when he walked out onto the road. His best friend did this because of him. This was his fault. He accused Vinnie of cheating and almost killed him. Doogie forced his guilt down as he took in the injuries; an obviously broken leg, it was bent at a horrible angle and was already swelling up a lot; several cracked ribs, by the way things felt; his left shoulder was out of its socket and his right wrist was swelling up quite dreadfully as well. Those plus any unseen internal injuries and the head wound spelled trouble. Vinnie would not be happy when he woke up…_if he woke up… Come on, Howser, don't think like that!_ Doogie checked Vinnie's head again as the sound of sirens was heard in the distance.

* * *

Janine felt her heart stop as she saw him in the air. She didn't think, she just ran. _No no no no no no no no no no. No, he's too young. No. _She had to keep swallowing to keep from throwing up when she looked at him lying there helpless. 

"Vinnie. Vinnie I'm here, you're going to be okay. Doogie's taking care of you" she whispered to him.

"Wanda, could you keep pressure on his head wound…"

"You're going you be okay." She didn't know if she was trying to reassure Vinnie, or reassure herself. With tears running down her face she bent down to kiss him. "Don't you dare die on me."

"Janine, I need to check his breathing." Doogie said and she immediately moved out of the way. Lying there on the ground he looked so small, but you could hardly recognize him; his face was a multitude of bruises. She held his hand as the distant sounds of sirens grew close.

* * *

Katherine Howser was loading the refrigerator with the week's groceries when the phone rang. With a pack of cereal still in her hand she picked it up. 

"Hello, Katherine Howser speaking. Oh hello, Doogie. Do you want chicken or…"

"Mom. I won't be home for dinner. Vinnie's in the hospital."

"Oh my God, what happened?" Katherine set the cereal on the table and sat down.

"He got hit by a car." Katherine's hand went to her mouth.

"I'll be right over."

"Mom, could you check if the Delpinos are in, they aren't picking up."

"They got in about half an hour ago when I got in. I'll go around and check they know. Is it bad?" Katherine waited for the answer. "Doogie?"

"It's bad, Mom." Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Katherine grabbed her keys and hurried next door. She stood outside and banged on their door.

"Hiya, Mrs. H." an Italian man answered. "What brings you to our neck of the woods?"

"You weren't answering your phone."

"No, I never answer the phone in the middle of the day. Why, did you need us?" Katherine took a deep breath.

"Your son…"

"Did he break something else? I swear one of these days I'm gonna break him, see how he likes it."

"He's been in an accident."

* * *

They'd arrived at the hospital about forty minutes after Vinnie got hit, and it took less than a minute for his heart to decide it had had enough. 

"No!" The paramedics did CPR for five minutes until his heart started to beat again. This only told Doogie that he might not make it. The first real sign. As the Doctors took over from the paramedics Doogie watched Janine holding his hand tightly.

"Car versus pedestrian. 17 year old male. Crashed once upon entry to the hospital…" Doogie filtered out the voices of the other doctors. Today he was not Doogie Howser the doctor. He was Doogie Howser the friend. _Yeah, some friend, you get your best friend landed in hospital… Stop thinking. Just… stop thinking. You aren't going to be doing any good if you keep on thinking like that! Someone has to call his parents… It might be easier coming from you._

"Guys, I'm going to… call his parents." Wanda nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hurry though. I don't want to leave Janine alone." He watched as the group hurried towards the ER and turned towards the phones.

* * *

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. 

As long as that sound continued, Janine was happy.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Why weren't his parents here yet? Doogie called them like half an hour ago.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

She had taken in the damage so many times already, but she felt herself constantly looking.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

She hated it when there were lots of tubes; it wasn't like last year when he had his tonsils out.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Janine?" She turned to see Wanda at the door. "How's he doing?"

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"He hasn't woken up, but the beeping hasn't stopped."

"That's good."

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Where's Doogie? Why hasn't he come yet?"

"I don't know. He said he was on his way up here. I'll try to find him. You gonna be okay?" Janine nodded and Wanda exited the room.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

* * *

Doogie sat in the cafeteria just thinking. Thinking about all the things he and Vinnie ever fought about. Thinking about all the times that he had upset Vinnie. Thinking about how upset Vinnie was with him right now. He almost didn't notice when Curly sat down next to him. 

"Doogie, what are you doing here? Isn't it your day off?" Nobody told her?

"Vinnie was in an accident."

"Oh my god. Is it serious?"

"Yes. He's in ICU and its all my fault." Doogie stood up and started to walk away, but Curly stopped him.

"Oh no, you don't. Sounds like you've got something on your mind. Sit." Doogie reluctantly took the seat again. "Why don't you explain it from the top?"

"Well, on Wednesday, Vinnie came to me complaining about this test, and how he didn't know any history. But then, on Friday he came back saying he got an A. And all I could think about was this time when he was going to cheat on this essay and…"

"You thought he cheated?"

"Yes… no… kind of. Anyway we were out shopping today and I let slip that I thought he'd cheated and he stormed off. I stopped him at the edge of the road, but when he turned away from me again, he was too busy wiping tears from his face to watch the road and he got hit. So it's my fault he's in here."

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Doogie." Doogie shook his head.

"He crashed in the hallway, Curly. His heart literally just gave up and stopped. This is really serious. And I'm going to have to explain all this to his parents, whenever they decide to turn up."

"You mean they aren't here yet?"

"They didn't answer their phone, but I think Mom said they were home." Curly nodded and rubbed Doogie's back.

"It wasn't your fault. Come on; let's go see how he's doing."

* * *

The drive to the hospital was a long one for the Delpinos. The traffic was all backed up due to an accident just over an hour ago. Mrs. Delpino tried to push away the thought that it was her son that was in the accident. It could have been on any street, just because it's in the middle of the area popular with teenagers didn't mean it was her son. Her son. He needed her. He needed her and she was stuck in traffic. 

"Carmine…" she whispered. "What if…"

"What if nothing. You'll see, we'll get there, and it will have been a big fuss over something little."

"But…"

"He'll probably just have a broken leg or something." Carmine Delpino stuck his head out of the window. "Hey! We've got a son in the hospital right now who we gotta get to! Quit jumping the queue!" he yelled, pushing loudly on the horn.

"Carmine…"

"I know, Sweetie."

* * *

so i figured there should be a be a bigger gap between these parqgraphs... so I'll talk to you guys for a while... whats that? you cant stand it when I talk to you? fine!! keep reading the story then and ignore me!

* * *

Vinnie opened his eyes slowly. It was bright, too bright, so he closed them again. Suddenly he noticed the tube down his throat. _Oh god, there's a tube in my throat!_ Gasping for breath he pulled his arms up to his mouth. _I gotta get it out!_

"Vinnie! Vinnie calm down! Doctor! Doctor, he's awake! Vinnie, please calm down! You'll hurt yourself more!" Another face appeared in front of his.

"Hello, Vinnie, my name is Doctor Kurt. You have a tube down your throat to help you breath. We're going to take it out now, okay? I need you to take a really big breath in then cough as hard as you can on the count of three, okay?" Vinnie nodded. "One… Two… Three." As Vinnie coughed the doctor pulled the tube out of his throat, he was met with an unbearably sore throat. Apparently they knew that would happen and a nurse placed a small chip of ice in his mouth.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions, is that okay?" The doctor asked as he shone a bright light into Vinnie's eyes. _That sounded like a question to me._

"Yeah…sure."

"Can you tell me where you are?"

"Hopefully Eastman…" He coughed, "Eastman Medical."

"Okay, can you tell me the date?"

"Urm… December 8th?"

"Close enough – December 9th. Can you tell me why you're here?"

"I… I…" Vinnie closed his eyes and thought.

"It's okay if you don't remember."

"No, I know. I…" Suddenly the events yesterday came flooding back to him. "I got hit by a car… where's Doogie?"

"Good."

"He's with your mom and dad in the cafeteria_." Mom and Dad are here? It must be bad… of course it's bad! Can't you feel your body?!_ "You want me to go get them?" Janine turned to go.

"Don't…" Vinnie cried. "Don't leave me. Please."

"I can get one of the nurses to go and find your parents." The doctor stuck his head out of the room. "Nurse Spaulding…Could you come in here for a second?"

As Curly entered the room and saw Vinnie awake she laughed.

"Vinnie, you're awake."

"Sure looks that way."

"Mr. Delpino is concerned about the whereabouts of Dr. Howser and his parents, could you be a dear and go and find them for him?" Curly smiled and said she would.

"I'm glad you're okay, Vinnie."

* * *

The Delpinos were just about to get a bite to eat when nurse Spaulding came into the cafeteria to find them. As they rushed off upstairs Doogie held back. 

"He's awake?" Doogie asked.

"Yes. And he's been asking after you."

"After me? Are you sure?"

"Yes, Doogie. I'm sure."

"I… I can't. How can I face him after what I did?"

"How can you not? Doogie, you've had fights with him before."

"Yeah…"

"And you were still friends after those. He's asked after you, he wants to see you. You'll have to face him sometime and you know it. Better you go to see him now than he try to climb through your window with a cast on." Doogie had to laugh. _That was true, that's the sort of thing he would do._ Reluctantly, Doogie agreed to go upstairs to see him.

* * *

_I never knew this many people cared about me this much_. Vinnie thought to himself as he looked at the line of cards_. I've only been here a night. And, man was I stupid, not looking into the road._ Vinnie's parents came into the room loudly. 

"Oh, my baby!" His mother cried out plastering his face with a kiss.

"Mom!"

"Don't you ever do that to me again, Vincent!"

"Love you too, Mom."

"Your sister is on…"

"You bugged her with this? You didn't have to…"

"Don't you give me that, young man! Do you know how worried we all were?" Vinnie fought the urge to smile. "You expect us to not be afraid when our baby nearly dies?"

"I didn't nearly die…"

"Yeah, you did, Vin." Doogie walked into the room, looking sheepish. "Your heart stopped for five minutes." Vinnie's eyes grew wide and he swallowed.

"I nearly…Ah geez! No wonder I feel like crap!"

"On the upside, you were on the news." Vinnie perked up at the mention of it.

"I was?" He grinned. "What did they say about me?" Doogie laughed.

"Not much. But I don't think you want to see the clip they showed. It's not very nice." Vinnie thought hard; when he got hit the guys must have been panicked. It was supposed to be a nice day out and he ruined it for them.

"I'm sorry I put you through that, Doogie."

_What? He's sorry? Sorry for getting hit by a car? Sorry for nearly dying? Sorry for being upset? I don't think I'll ever work out how his brain works_. Doogie couldn't believe his ears.

"Urm, Mr. and Mrs. Delpino, could I have a word with Vinnie for a minute?" he asked.

"Sure, we need to go talk to the doctor." Doogie turned to Vinnie again once they were out of the room.

"Vinnie, why are _you_ sorry?" he asked. "If anyone's sorry it should be me."

"I walked into the road without looking." Vinnie replied looking straight ahead. As if he was telling himself exactly what happened. "Oh man, no one else was hurt were they? The driver? Anyone in the car?"

"It was just one guy in the car, and no. He's fine." Vinnie let of a breath of relief.

"I could've caused a major accident with my stupidity."

"Vinnie, you're not stupid. You were upset."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry about blowing up at you too. I get why you'd think I cheated."

"But that doesn't change the fact that I shouldn't have even considered it. You're my best friend; I should've had more faith in you. It's my fault you're lying here in…"

"Hey. I'm not exactly the most honest of people." Vinnie laughed. "Besides, it's not like you pushed me into the road." Doogie laughed.

"You know, that's all that anyone's been saying to me for about twelve and a half hours. But I never believed it 'til just now."

"Oh man! I was out for how long?!" Doogie laughed again.

"Get some rest, Vinnie. Don't forget you'll need physical therapy for that leg; once the cast comes off in a month or so."

"Doog… Does this mean I'm gonna have to knock on the door like everyone else now?" Doogie shook his head in amusement.

"Get better, buddy. I'll come see you later."

"Please don't leave me alone yet... just talk to me, you know? For a little bit?" Vinnie was scared of being alone in hospitals, anyone could see it. He was fine day to day, if he was visiting Doogie, or if one of hid friends stayed there, but he couldn't stand being addmitted.

"Sure, Vin."

"Hey have you checked out how many cards I got? Suzie Berlutti sent me one, along wit like ten udda chicks, I don't even know who half of dem are! And I got one from madame felboum and little..." Doogie smiled and sat down, listening to what was music to his ears; Vinnie's voice.

* * *

Vinnie spent the next week in hospital. After that he left with a wheelchair and crutches. It would be another couple of weeks before he could get around by himself properly, but that didn't mean he didn't try. One Tuesday morning, at school, Vinnie was in an argument with Janine and Wanda. 

"I can move the chair by myself!" he yelled, frustrated.

"With that cast on your hand?" Wanda asked uncertainly.

"Yeah! I'll prove it!" Vinnie grabbed a hold of the wheels and started to push the chair forwards.

"Vinnie, no! What if you hurt yourself?" Janine stopped him.

"Come on! I can do it myself! I ain't a baby!" He stopped struggling with the wheels and buried his face in his hands. "I hate this!" It was in this moment that the girls caught about twenty people staring, some out of pity, and some in amusement.

"Hey, how would you like it if I put YOU in a wheelchair?" Janine yelled at the nearest group.

"Hey, Janine, calm down. It doesn't matter." Vinnie said. "Could you… could you just… help me get to film class?" Janine gave him a quick kiss, and took up the handles.

* * *

"Dr. Howser, you have a patient here to see you." Doogie left the staff room and walked towards reception, where he saw Vinnie, supported by a pair of crutches. 

"I told you another couple of weeks, Vin." He complained pulling a wheelchair from the waiting area. Vinnie just pushed it away.

"Yeah, and I told myself to get out of the damned chair. It was drivin' me nuts, Doog. At least I can hit people with these." Doogie could tell Vinnie's frustration, but he cared more about Vinnie's being able to walk again than his need to get out of a chair a couple weeks early.

"Vinnie, no. You're going to get into the chair." He raised his hand before Vinnie interrupted. "And before you say no, I'm going to explain why. Now, get in the chair." Vinnie glared at doogie as he sat. "Vinnie, you're going to need these for a very long time. And that time is only going to be longer if you start using them too early. Your leg isn't strong enough yet, neither is your arm." Vinnie fiddled with the crutches as Doogie spoke. "You have to give your body time to heal. Come one, Vin. Will you do it?"

"Fine. But I ain't gonna be happy about it." Doogie smiled. "Anyway, I'm here for my-uh… physical therapy."

"Sure, I'll take you up." Doogie pushed Vinnie along the corridor towards the elevator.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Vin. But… you're a freshman." 

"I got in!" Vinnie bounced out of his chair, forgetting about his leg, and promptly stumbling into Mrs Howser.

"Vinnie, are you alright?"

"Sorry, Mrs. H. I kinda got a little excited there." He grinned as he was pushed back into the chair. As Dr. and Mrs.Howser left the room, Vinnie proclaimed, "This absolutely proves the existence of God."

"Urm… Vinnie? We're all pretty happy for you, but don't you think that's a bit of a…"

"Hey, when I was in the hospital, my mom said she was praying like crazy, and I came outta that okay…"

"Vinnie, you crashed before your mom even knew about your accident…"

"That doesn't matter, you forget; God knows everything we're ever gonna to do. So he knew my mom was gonna pray. Then, I get turned down by all those film schools, go to church and badabing- I get into one."

"Well, shouldn't he have known you were going to pray and you would have gotten into another school…?"

"No. The way I see it, he thinks this is the school for me, and I wouldn't have prayed if I'd gotten into one of them. The point is, Doog… It worked! And even if it didn't, what else was there for me to do, besides worry, and get an ulcer. What did I have to lose?" Vinnie gestured wildly with his hands. "But it worked!" Vinnie laughed and wheeled himself to the door. "See you tomorrow, Doog."

Doogie smiled. Things were finally getting into the swing again. Too long, Vinnie had been moping along; now that he'd accepted it as a part of his life, things were looking up.

* * *

END. no really, its really the end this time! i so totally had you thinking that someone was going to die didn't i by putting it as "tragedy"! 

Okay, I know my story isn't the best, but please leave me comments and stuff so I can improve!! Thankees!


End file.
